Deere CEO aims high at shareholder meeting

Deere's hopes its high aspirations will be helped by international interests.
Deere's hopes its high aspirations will be helped by international interests.
By 2018, the world's largest manufacturer of farming and agriculture machinery is aiming to nearly double its sales by capitalizing on international interests, the company announced.

According to Bloomberg, Moline,Iowa-based John Deere also aspires to achieve a 12 percent operating margin by 2014, chief executive officer Sam Allen said during a shareholder meeting at headquarters on Wednesday. The company will put effort into agricultural business interests, from which the company capitalizes.

"The revised strategy also lays out some challenging aspirations or goals," the chief executive officer said. "By hitting these marks, the company would grow to about twice its present size and deliver about three times as much economic profit at normal volumes."

Moreover, Deere will devote strong amounts of investment money to construction, Allen said. That's a strategy that aims to embolden the company's global presence.

Deere also raised its fiscal 2011 forecast during the shareholders meeting. That projection arrived as a result of surging prices for crops, which in turn generated stronger combine and tractors sales.

"It's a realistic goal that's attainable at an earlier date," Eli Lustgarten, an analyst for Longbow Research in Ohio, told the news service.